Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director of Place (Commercial Development)

The Cabinet considered the report of the Executive Director – Place on the case for proceeding with delivery of Phase 1 of the planned Bootle Strand Transformation Programme and the new five-year Business Plan for the fiscal years 2023/24 to 2027/28 for the Strand Shopping Centre, reflecting the impacts on operations of proceeding with the programme works.

The report indicated that given the on-going challenges of the economic climate, which continued to impact day to day operations at the Strand, and the complexity of the work required to deliver Phase 1 of the Programme whilst the rest of the centre continued to trade, the Business Plan included an updated overview of the impacts on the retail sector of the current economic climate and the impacts on operations of delivering the works.

Notwithstanding the challenges to the Business Plan, it had always been made clear that the acquisition of the Strand was for regeneration purposes, and the continuation of the pressures of the economic climate reinforced the importance of delivering the vision for the future of Bootle town centre and the Strand through implementation of the Transformation Programme.

The report recommended proceeding with the implementation of Phase 1 of the Transformation Programme, for which funding had been secured from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (“DLUHC”) and agreed in principle with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (“CA”).

Although the Transformation Programme and the associated, updated Business Plan took account of the latest economic data and assessed the implications of undertaking works whilst the shopping centre continued to trade, based on now more detailed designs and plans, there nevertheless remained some uncertainty because of the volatile pressures of inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.

The following Annexes and Appendices were attached to the report:

·       Appendix 1 – The Strand BP and FBC Summary 2023-2028

·       Appendix 2 – The Strand BP 2023-2028 - Detailed

·       Appendix 3 – The Strand Transformation Programme FBC - Detailed

Decisions Made:

That

(1)      proceeding with Phase 1 of the Strand Transformation Programme be approved;

(2)      the Executive Director - Place, in consultation with the Cabinet Member - Regeneration and Skills, be authorised to draw down the DLUHC £20m grant funding for Phase 1 of the Transformation Programme under the previously signed Memorandum of Understanding in place between the Council and DLUHC;

(3)      the Council be recommended to approve a supplementary capital estimate of £20m fully funded by the DLUHC grant funding;

(4)      the Executive Director - Place, in consultation with the Cabinet Member - Regeneration and Skills, be authorised to procure the preferred building contractor for Phase 1, with the award of the contract, to be subject to a subsequent Cabinet report;

(5)      the Executive Director - Place, in consultation with the Cabinet Member - Regeneration and Skills, be authorised to appoint the Council’s existing Asset Manager to also act as the Development Manager for Phase 1 of the Programme;

(6)      the Executive Director - Place, in consultation with the Cabinet Member - Regeneration and Skills, be authorised to appoint Avison Young as PM, Cost and Design consultants for Phase 1A-C via the Crown Commercial Services framework;

(7)      the new, 5-year, Transformation Programme Business Plan for the Strand Shopping Centre be approved, noting continued challenges in the economic climate;

(8)      any material variations to the Transformation Business Plan be presented back to Cabinet for further decision; and

(9)      an updated Business Plan, for the following three years from the financial year 2027/28, be submitted to the Cabinet for approval ahead of the start of that financial year.

Reasons for the Decisions:

The Council’s objectives for the acquisition of the Strand in 2017 were to ensure that it was supported to continue its role in the local community, as a key asset at the heart of Bootle critical to the town’s physical, economic, and social regeneration. This remained the Council’s priority in relation to the Strand.

The report set out the deliverability of Phase 1 of the Transformation Programme and provided accompanying financial forecasts for the coming years, via an updated 5-year Business Plan, accounting for the impacts of the economy and of the works on day-to-day operations as well as outlining the positive outcomes on the Business Plan and wider regeneration objectives of proceeding with the Transformation Programme.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

Not proceeding with Phase 1 of the Transformation Programme had been considered but discounted as the deterioration to the financial sustainability of the Strand would continue unchecked, which would inevitably lead to it no longer being viable. This would also fail to realise any of the regeneration objectives the Programme was designed to provide as well as require the return of the £20m grant funding award that the Council had secured for Phase 1 of the Programme.

No alternatives to the publication of an updated Business Plan were considered, as this was required annually by the Cabinet.